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IVGID moves Golf, Silver card discussion, talks dog park, 2022 beach season

Miranda Jacobson / mjacobson@tahoedailytribune.com
The IVGID Board of Trustees met in person Thursday night. Sara Schmitz, Tim Callicrate and Matthew Dent were at the meeting while trustees Kendra Wong and Michaela Tonking attended online.
Provided/Screengrab from the meeting

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — The general improvement district Board of Trustees met Wednesday, Nov. 9, following Election Night and decided to hold off discussing the agenda item related to terminating Gold and Silver passes for employees. 

The district’s Gold and Silver Card Program is a recruitment and retention program that sees those employed year round for 10 years and 20 years, and IVGID trustees, receive discounted or complimentary use of district venues including the restricted-access beaches.

Recently, with the changes to Ordinance 7 related to the beach deed, the question of whether or not the Gold and Silver Card Program is in alignment with the beach deed has been raised. 



The item was originally agendized for the Sept. 28, meeting, before being moved to the Nov. 9 meeting for the trustees to gain more information on the item before moving forward. 

However, during the finalization of Wednesday night’s agenda, Chairman Tim Callicrate moved to remove the item from the agenda until the Dec. 14 meeting, as new information had come to light. 



“We pulled it because there’s additional information being made aware to use that will definitively let us know whether we can allow non-resident employees on the beach or holders of the gold and silver cards and their opportunities to use the beach facilities as well,” he said. 

The decision was agreed upon by the rest of the board. 

“I want to make sure that when the board votes on this, that we are within the board authority, the directives of the board, as well as the beach deed,” said Callicrate. “We are awaiting some additional legal information and I just want to make sure that my colleagues on the board and the district have all of the information that’s out, and that it is cognizant of the limitations of the beach deed.” 

The board received an update from Dog Park Committee members Judith Miller and Myles Riner, who detailed the work that has been done by the committee that was put together by General Manager Indra Winquest, and the work they plan to do. 

There are multiple options for dog park locations, and the committee is dedicated to looking into each one. 

Riner announced that they would be continuing to analyze the five sites they currently have as options and hopefully eliminate some to narrow the list. 

There is an application for a special use permit for the Forest Service site located across from the Incline VIllage High School that could potentially serve as the location for the dedicated park. 

“That application was submitted last year but due to staffing issues created in part because of the wildfires, the process was put on hold,” Miller said 

As part of the application for the SUP, the district must conduct public outreach to determine if the site would be suitable among the community. 

“A survey is being developed,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, there’s still little information from the forest service as to what can actually be done on their property. Whether or not the site is a viable option for a community dog park will be determined once these important details are obtained.” 

Other sites under consideration include the Village Green, a portion of the fitness trail, and an area of the Diamond Peak School House Lift for a summer option coupled with a winter use at Ski Beach. 

An update on the 2022 beach season with results from changes of Ordinance 7 was given as well, and revealed the second highest number of visits in the last five years with 215,811 total visits. 

“I feel that it’s really important to note that the committee, guided by Indra Winquest and also with you, Board of Trustees, providing guidance on the Ordinance 7 revisions, I believe we see some positive impacts at the beaches,” said Superintendent of Parks and Recreation Shelia Leijon. 

The number one highlight this year was the reduction in methods to access the beaches, which included recreation passes, punch cards and guests with a pass holder present paying with a credit card, which had been reduced from 12 methods dating back to 2017. 

Another noteworthy point brought up by Leijon was the strong ambassador presence at the beach, which allowed for more regulation. 

“What we’ve been able to do with our Ambassador Program is increase the number of months that we actually manage and monitor access to the beach from about four and half to now seven months. That’s getting us closer to year-round restriction at our beaches.” 

It was found that through having the Ambassador Program run through the summer, that it was easier to manage incidents. 

“We saw an increase in incident reports, and it’s not because there are more happening, it’s because we have a larger presence at the beach, so we are paying closer attention,” said Leijon. 

In the past, the beaches relied on High Sierra Patrol to handle incidents, which meant more times than not it wouldn’t be followed up with because they weren’t close enough to respond to the call. 

“We now have our ambassadors on the beach from dawn till dusk everyday,” said Leijon. “So they monitor incidents and they document the incidents.” 


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